The present invention generally relates to a chiropractic adjustor apparatus used to apply vibratory energy or force to a patient and, more particularly, relates to a chiropractic adjustor apparatus having an improved ability to resist overheating and rotation during use.
Chiropractic adjustments of the spinal vertebrae of a body involve the application of pressure or force in a known manner directly to the body by the hands of a chiropractor or by a chiropractic adjustor apparatus. Examples of such chiropractic adjustor apparatuses found in the prior patent art are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,890 to Bichel and U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,955 to Evans et al.
Another example of a prior art chiropractic adjustor apparatus is the one illustrated in FIG. 1. The apparatus of FIG. 1 includes a housing, a handle on the housing, a trigger reciprocally mounted to the handle, an electronic control module provided in the handle and activated by depression and release of the trigger, an elongated force-transmitting shaft reciprocally mounted through the housing. An electromagnetic drive mechanism is disposed in the interior cavity of the housing and connected electrically to an electronic module. It is operable by the actuation of the trigger and the return action of a compressible spring near the rear portion of the housing, causing the shaft to transmit vibratory energy to the human body.
The electromagnetic drive mechanism includes a spool with electrical windings stationarily supported in the interior cavity of the housing and a stator mounted on the shaft and disposed within a bore of the spool in an electromagnetically coupled relationship with the electrical windings about the spool. Depressing the trigger activates the electrical control module to apply predetermined pulses to the electrical windings so as to actuate the stator and thus the shaft into repetitive reciprocal vibratory type of movement along a longitudinal axis of the shaft and relative to the housing. However, the prior art provides only a single frequency of the reciprocation. This prevents the treatments from being customized to the patient""s need. It is desirable to provide variable frequencies for use with various treatment regimens.
The operation of the electromagnetic drive mechanism creates substantial heating of the electrical windings which, in turn, heats the portions of the housing adjacent thereto. The buildup of heat must be dissipated from the housing in order to prevent overheating of the handle connected thereto and of the electronic control module disposed in the handle. Unsatisfactory dissipation of the heat would make it uncomfortable and difficult for the operator to hold onto the handle for an extended period of time and have the potential to cause a malfunction of the electronic control module. A plurality of passages are provided through the rear portion of the housing to facilitate passage and dissipation of heat from the drive mechanism and housing. It is desirable to provide a thermal cut-off switch to prevent the device from overheating and causing damage to the device.
During operation, the prior art devices tend to rotate, or twist, out of the user""s grip, as a result of the rotational components of the force exerted on the shaft by the electromagnetic drive mechanism, causing the operator to exert much effort in holding the device substantially perpendicular to the patient""s vertebrae. It is desirable to provide means to resist such rotation so that the device can be held in the proper position along the patient""s spine.
Consequently, a need exists for an innovation that will provide a configuration that will overcome the aforementioned problems of the prior art. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a device that provides a variable frequency of reciprocation. It is another object of this invention to provide a device with an improved ability to resist overheating. It is another object of this invention to provide a device that resists rotation during use.
The present invention is a chiropractic adjustor apparatus having an electromagnetic drive mechanism connected to an actuating means which causes a shaft to reciprocate. The reciprocating shaft is used to apply pressure or force directly to the spinal vertebrae of a body. The improvements of this device include a variable-controlled switch to enable the user to change the frequency of the reciprocation; a thermal cut-off switch that automatically turns off the power to the electromagnetic drive mechanism; easily interchangeable force-transmitting elements; and a suite of structures that work together to resist rotation when the device is in use.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described an illustrative embodiment of the invention.